Monday, December 15, 2014

Belichick gives speedster Brady thumbs up on run

Tom Brady took off on a rare 17-yard scamper Sunday against the Miami Dolphins, early in the third quarter on a third-and-11.

It was an emotionally driven move, and that emotion triggered a streak of five consecutive Patriots scoring drives, as New England pulled far away to a 38-13 win and a clinch of the AFC East title.

Brady took a hit at the end of the play, something Patriots fans and members of the organization prefer to see as little as possible. But all turned out just fine, and it sounds like Brady would do it again if he had to.

“I was going to slide, but I was pretty pissed off that time so I figured I wouldn’t slide," Brady said after the game, via Patriots.com. "I wish I wouldn’t have gotten knocked down, but that’s the way it goes.

“I could have slid, but I wasn’t in the best mood that time. If he was a bigger guy I would have thought really hard about sliding, but once I was in the secondary… things happen pretty quick for me out there. I'm not the fastest guy out there so things close down pretty quick.”

Monday, Patriots coach Bill Belichick assured that he was all for Brady's decision to stay up on the play.

"I’ve coached for a long time and I don’t question players’ decisions on the field when they try to make them to help the team win,” Belichick said. “I think that’s, that they do the best that they can, they’re trying to win, they’re trying to win just as much as everybody else on the team is. I’m not saying every decision is a great one. Same thing with a coach, same thing with me.

"I’m not saying every decision is a great one, but everyone is made with the intention of trying to help our team win and do the best that I can or an individual player can for the team. So I don’t second guess those. I think what a player does at the time he does it is what he thinks is best. And I don’t second guess him.”